


A Necromancer's Past

by MirabelleKaida



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23090341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirabelleKaida/pseuds/MirabelleKaida
Summary: We all know Mannimarco as that old and powerful necromancer, but did you ever wonder what he was like as a child?
Kudos: 5





	A Necromancer's Past

The cold winter air nipped at my ears, making me shiver for what felt like the hundredth time. My mother took notice and reassured me that we would be at the Imperial city soon. I hoped she was right, I hated the cold. I hated walking even more, since we lived along the border. It was a miracle my legs didn’t break. I loved visiting the big city, but mainly just so I can see what all of the bookshops have available. I would read inside my room at the inn, right by a window where I can watch all of the mages practice their craft. I’ve always wanted to join them, so I would constantly check the bookshops for spell books. I had all of the basics, nothing too special. Flames, healing, frost, and the like. Destruction and restoration was fun and all, but I wanted to try necromancy. My father never approved of it, and my mother always takes his side, so I never had the chance to practice it.

My parents and I had finally reached the city, but it was starting to get dark, so the first thing we did was finding a decent room to stay in for the night. There was the New Life Festival going on, with dancing, vendors left and right trying to sell food and other goods, and lots of people crowded around. It was honestly quite hard to navigate, and even harder to hold on to my mother’s hand as a lot of people bumped into me. I gripped on as tightly as I could. I haven’t seen any guards yet, and I started to wonder if they could even keep up with all of this chaos.

We showed up at an old, run down inn that was across town where it was thankfully fairly quiet, and a good ways away from the festival. You couldn’t even see the lights or people that were passed out drunk. My mother and father said that this was a little small for them, but I didn’t mind. In fact, I was happy that I wasn’t somewhere huge. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I had a tendency to get lost in those long hallways. The amount of people there certainly didn’t help either. The room didn’t make my parents feel any better, and father kept complaining that it was too cramped in here. I didn’t see why it was so bad.

“Mannimarco!” My mother’s voice pulled me out of my self-loathing, and I turned to face her. “We’re going into town, but we’ll be back in a few hours.”  
Before I could even open my mouth to say anything, she turned around and left. I was all alone. I took this as an opportunity to look at my surroundings,and see what there is to do around here.

There were only a couple of beds, a window, and a closet. It was really empty here, and fairly cold too. Not to mention how dark it was, even with the lit candles. I figured that if there was nothing to do, I should just unpack and go straight to bed. Well…”Unpack” was a very loose term, since I barely had anything with me. A change of clothes and a few pieces of gold. I picked the bed furthest away from the door, wrapped myself in all of the blankets from both beds, held my bear in my arms, and shut my eyes.

5 minutes. Then 15. Then a few hours. I feel like I've been here forever, however I couldn't figure out why I can't sleep. The festival was all the way across town, so no loud noises from there could be heard. Even the inn itself was quiet. I decided to get up, since it was clearly pointless to even try to sleep. Shouldn't my parents be back by now? I grabbed a few pieces of gold, decided that I should get a bite to eat, and rent out the room for an extra day in case my parents were really late.

I walked out of the room to find the chef serving drinks to the guards that have finished their long patrol. The chef noticed me, and smiled. A Khajiit woman, who couldn't have been older than 30. "The innkeeper is asleep, so this one is in charge," she grabbed the last of the mugs and put them on the table where some half-asleep guards were. The place was full of them, yet it was fairly quiet. The Khajiit woman turned to face me again, still having a smile on her face. "Apologies. It was a very busy night for them. Anyways, what can this one get for you?"  
"How much does a room cost?" My voice sounded a little horse, probably because this is the first time I've talked in hours. Maybe days.  
"About ten gold per night."  
I quickly counted all of the gold in my hand. 17 pieces. I took 10 and put the rest in my pocket. "I'd like to add an extra night please," I handed her most of my life's savings, she counted them, and nodded.  
"It's all yours."

I realized that it was sunrise when I looked out of the window. I have to get something to eat anyways, but she looked too busy, so I didn't ask her. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to head down to the marketplace before I went home. It's a bit of a walk, but it can't be as bad as the long trip to get here.

The place was still packed with people, unsurprisingly. Not as bad as yesterday, but there were decorations all over the floor, almost making me trip multiple times. The bookstore was tempting to go into, but my growling stomach told me to find a general store or a grocer. At this point I was willing to eat anything I can afford, instead of being picky like I usually am.

The store was a bit small, but there was a very kind owner that was willing to give me a discount, since I was just a kid. Finding food was great and all, but it was starting to get lonely. Not only did I have the only two people who ever cared about me missing, but there weren’t any other children around. At least nobody I can see. I sat alone on a bench, watching all of the people walk by, none of them looking at me. After about 15 minutes, I grew tired of being here. I was sleep deprived, upset, and I really just wanted to go back home instead of staying in this heccing city. I got up, and slowly walked back to that dark and uncomfortable inn. When I arrived, I went straight to my bed, and crashed.

“Come on, get up!” I heard a man call out. It was definitely not my father, that’s for sure. I quickly opened my eyes, sat up, and looked around until I finally see two Imperial guards and their captain. The window beside me showed that it was dark. How long was I out? "Finally. They've been trying to wake you up for minutes now. It's almost like it was the first time you've slept in weeks," The Captain said. And...yeah, he's right. I genuinely don't remember the last time I've slept. "Anyways..." He continued "We need to talk. Are you Mannimarco?"  
"Yeah…"  
"Follow me. You're not in trouble, I promise"  
"...Okay." I doubted him, mainly because of my rude awakening.

We walked all the way to the guard barracks, where they took me to a small room with a cot and a table with two maps; One that's of Cyrodiil, and one that was all of tamriel. Colorful marker flags were all over them, but I didn't understand what they meant or why he was marking them. "Come, sit down," the captain snapped me out of my thoughts, and he motioned towards a chair. I cautiously moved towards it before sitting down. He said I wasn't in trouble, but it sure felt like I was.  
“You were staying in the inn last night, correct?”  
“Yes.”  
“When did your parents leave?”  
“Yesterday. At sundown, I think.”

He gave me a sad look, and at that point I had guessed what had happened. My fears were confirmed when he started to speak again. “Mannimarco...I’m sorry, but your parents are...gone. We found them yesterday in an alleyway after the festival, and…” I zoned out at that point. Time seemed to have slowed down. It was obvious that he wasn’t good at talking to kids, especially about this stuff, but that was the least of my worries. They were gone. Forever. And I was left all alone. “No...gods, please no...No no no.” I had repeated. There was no way. They couldn’t have just abandoned me like that! My vision started to blur, and I tried to wipe the tears out of my eyes. At this point, the captain still seemed a little sad, but was also getting tired of me crying. “Look, there was too much chaos yesterday. We couldn’t keep track of everyone even if we wanted to,” he sighed. It was quiet in the room for a few minutes, although it felt like an eternity. “What will I do now?” I finally asked.  
“There’s an orphanage on the other side of Cyrodiil. A few of our guards will take you there by carriage.” I just nodded. I didn’t want to go, but at that point I had no choice. Besides, even if I didn’t go with them, what else was I going to do? Live in a forest?

The walk to get out of the city was a bit nerve-wracking. I guess most people knew what happened, because most people that were walking through the streets stopped and just gave me a sad look. I also heard a few whispers, some of them were people asking what was going on, others were whispering about how much of a tragedy it was.

That poor boy…

Where is he going to live now?

Who do you think murdered his parents?

Wait, they had a kid all this time? Where was he?

It was hard to not hear them. I just looked down at my feet and kept walking.

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, I managed to post this during the worm moon! This is a little old, and it's only the first chapter, sorry if I made any mistakes regarding the lore!


End file.
